Nightswimming
by Lalalu
Summary: There are times when you really feel that you belong. That you are at the right place with the right person. This night was such a moment, I will never forget it. AxC


Hehehe, this is a one-shot, AC, AU, high school. It is a little silly but I hope you will like it anyway. By the way this story has nothing to do with "The High School Prince".

The title is taken from the beautiful R.E M. song, if you haven't heard it I can definitely recommend it.

/Lalalu

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Nightswimming **

The summer holiday was slowly reaching its end and so was Cagalli's and Athrun's first summer as a couple.

Cagalli was lying on her back on Athrun's bed staring into the ceiling while Athrun was sitting on the chair by his desk looking at Cagalli.

"It's too hot." Cagalli complained lifting her head up a little so she could look into Athrun's face.

Athrun didn't answer immediately, it was true it was hot. This summer the weather had been unusually hot, not only the days but even the nights didn't leave much refuge from the heat. Sure it was hot but that was just stating the obvious and for no reason Athrun felt a tinge of irritation,

"I know it's hot but there's nothing we can do about it is there?"

"I know that, you don't have to sound so irritated." Cagalli let her head fall back against the bed again.

"I'm not irritated."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Ok, you're not." Cagalli sighed and didn't say anything more. Athrun didn't exactly feel satisfied with that comment, Cagalli was giving in too easily. Maybe it was this heat because usually Cagalli never backed down, when they argued it was always he who had to apologise first.

He didn't know why he felt irritated or why he picked fights with Cagalli, maybe it was the heat's fault too. The summer was soon ending and school was soon starting again and they would soon be busy with other things and they wouldn't have time be together like this every day. So he knew it was wrong to wish that the summer would be over and the heat would go away. But now they were hanging out but they didn't do anything, they were just sitting there, well Cagalli was lying on his bed. Ordinarily he supposed that he would lie on that bed too and they would make out or something, but now it was to hot to do even that. When he would try to hug her she would get out of his grip saying it was to warm. He thought he would be able to stand the heat if he just could hold her, but apparently Cagalli was different.

They had been going for almost two months now, the girl that he supposedly had had a one sided crush on liked him back, even now it felt too good to be true.

It was on the last day of school before the summer holiday. He had been at different parties celebrating older friends who were graduating from high school all day and therefore by the time night came he was pretty drunk. He walked aimlessly around town, there were loads of students like him out celebrating that school was over and somewhere along the way he had become separated from his friends. Absentmindedly he wondered what he should do now while he tried his best to walk straight. When he looked up from his feet that he had concentrating his eyes on they suddenly met with amber coloured ones, "Cagalli…" he whispered to himself.

"Athrun!" Cagalli didn't whisper. She shouted his name waved the hand which didn't hold a bottle. She was clearly drunk, but probably not as drunk as him.

She was with her friends who were smiling rather meaningfully at him and he couldn't understand why. He walked up to them and feeling somewhat confused, "Hi." He said and couldn't believe himself, _"Hi"_? why couldn't he think of something more clever to say?

"Hey, Athrun are you alone by yourself?" Cagalli apparently wasn't capable of talking in a normal tone right now but he, of course, couldn't care less: He got to talk to Cagalli.

"Ah, mm, yeah, I kind of got separated from my friends and now I don't know where they are…"

"What? Then we have to find them!"

"Eh?"

"Don't worry we'll find them, I'll help you search!"

"Eh!"

"Have fun Cagalli." "Talk to you tomorrow." "You better take care of her Zala." Her friends said smiling amusedly as they started to leave.

"Where are you guys going?" Cagalli asked confused.

"See you tomorrow, Cagalli."

"Yeah, we want to hear all about it."

"About what?"

"Never mind, have fun with Zala, Cagalli."

"Eh? Wait!" Cagalli tried to follow them but she was stopped by Athrun who grabbed her arm.

"Eh, what are you doing Athrun?" Cagalli looked at him with wide open eyes.

"Sorry!" Athrun said and immediately let go of her arm, "But can't you stay with me? You said you would help me look for my friends…" Honestly he could care less about finding his friends right now, rather he didn't want to find them, but it was good excuse to be able to be with Cagalli a little longer.

"Oh yeah, right! Of course I'll help!" Cagalli beamed at him. She seemed to have forgotten about her friends totally…

After that they walked around talking, about school, about what they planned to do in the summer, about music, movies and books and it turned out that they had similar taste. Cagalli seemed to have forgotten that they were searching for Athrun's friends and of course Athrun didn't search for them in the first place.

"Where do you live?" Athrun asked.

"In Orb, why?"

"I live in Plant, that's pretty close to Orb… Come on I'll take you home."

"Eh! It's ok you don't have to do that, I can go home by myself."

"What are you talking about, I can't let you do that. You're a girl, drunk in the middle of the night! What if someone attacked you?"

"You're drunk too." Cagalli said pouting.

"Yeah but I'm guy and besides it's safer to be two than one right? And we live in the same direction anyway."

"Alright! If someone tries to assault you I'll protect you!" Cagalli exclaimed.

"Eh, ehe he…" Athrun laughed weakly and couldn't help but feeling a little pathetic.

"Ok this is where I live." Cagalli said as they stopped by the gate in front of a large house.

They were silent for a while neither of them wanted to leave but eventually Cagalli opened her mouth again, "Well, I'll see you around." And was about to walk to the house when Athrun stopped her.

"Cagalli!"

Cagalli stopped and turned around, she looked surprised. Athrun walked closer to her and gently put his arms around her waist. Cagalli looked surprised at first but soon she put her arms around his shoulders.

"Cagalli…" he could just say before he brought his face nearer hers.

Cagalli just closed her eyes. The feeling of her lips was soft. Her breath was warm. He buried his face against her neck and hugged her tightly. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest, and he felt how he started to feel warm in his whole body.

"Cagalli, you don't know how long I've been dreaming about doing this…" he spoke softly to her ear.

"Me too." Cagalli said and he wondered if he had ever felt happier than he did right now and if he ever would. He let her go, there was no need to rush. They would have plenty of time to get to know each other.

"By the way, can I have your phone number?" He said and picked up his mobile from his pocket.

"Sure, eh, can I have yours too?"

"Of course." Athrun smiled.

They changed numbers and as he was getting ready to leave Athrun said, "I'll call you tomorrow. Eh, maybe we can do something, watch a movie or take a cup of coffee or something…"

"Sure!" Cagalli smiled at him before she hurriedly closed the gate behind her and ran to the door.

"See you tomorrow, Cagalli." Athrun whispered happily to himself before he too started to walk home. The sun was about to go up, the birds were singing madly and life felt fantastic.

I

"I'm bored." Cagalli exclaimed.

"If you have a better idea on what to do I'd like to hear it."

"…" Cagalli didn't answer and for a while the room was quiet, the CD that had been playing had ended but neither of them had enough energy to put on another one.

Suddenly Cagalli sat up in the bed and shouted, "I know, let's go to the sea!"

Athrun looked questioningly at the very excited Cagalli.

"The sea, but it's almost midnight?"

"_Because_ it's midnight, and it's full moon tonight so it's perfect."

Athrun looked at Cagalli who looked like she was getting ready to leave and he sighed. It wasn't like he had anything better to do and even if it was tiresome if it made Cagalli happy he might as well go along with it.

"Alright, let's go to the sea."

"Yay!" Cagalli beamed at him and he chuckled a little as she eagerly ran down the stairs at the same time as he wondered where she got all that energy from.

Before he closed the door he shouted, "Mom, I'm going out for a while."

"At this time? Where?" He heard his mother asking but he didn't bother to answer. He was 18 soon anyway, he wasn't about to ask for permission to go out or explain himself. What he and Cagalli were doing was their business.

Cagalli and he rode their bicycles towards the sea, it was about 3 kilometres away and it began to feel like this really was a good idea. The wind against their faces felt refreshing and the temperature was at least lower than inside.

Athrun's family lived in a large wooden house from the beginning of the twentieth century and even if it had been modernised since then, it accumulated heat from the sun during the day, which was good during the winter but in the in the summer it was a drawback.

Everything felt much better and they talked and laughed as they moved their pedals. The smell of summer night began to mix with the salty smell of the sea. And soon they had reached their destination.

Cagalli immediately got off her bike and took off her sandals and ran to the shore and dipped her feet.

"It's warm, it's perfect!" she turned to him and shouted. He could make out her smile in the dusky light and in that moment she looked incredibly beautiful to him and at the same time like a very fleeting existence, like she could disappear from him any moment and he felt how something tightened his chest.

"What are you standing there brooding about? Get over here!" Cagalli laughed as she splashed water with her feet.

"It's alright I'll just sit here." Athrun smiled, he just wanted to watch Cagalli, because right now felt almost magical. It was still the beginning of August so it wasn't completely dark outside and tonight the moon was big and yellow. To see Cagalli in the moonlight was magical.

"Suit yourself!" Cagalli didn't seem to mind Athrun but continued to play with the water.

The gentle sea breeze fanned his hair and the only sounds were the small waves beating against the rocks and the noises Cagalli made. They were the only ones who were there and it felt fantastic.

Suddenly he noticed how Cagalli started to take of her T-shirt, "Cagalli? What are you doing?" She's not going to bathe is she, he silently hoped.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to swim of course. You too Athrun, come on!" Cagalli proceeded with taking off her shorts.

"But we didn't bring proper clothes, are you planning on swimming in your underwear? And besides it's dark, it's too dangerous."

"What are you talking about? It's not dark, as long as you can see the shore it's ok. And of course I'm not going to swim in my underwear, I'm swimming nude!" She smiling widely.

"Wha-!" Athrun was too shocked to say anything else and subconsciously looked around them to make sure that they really were alone. But more importantly, ok perhaps not more importantly, was she really serious?

That question was soon answered when Cagalli unhooked her bra and quickly kicked off her knickers and jumped into the water. She took a few stokes and then turned around and shouted, "Come get in, Athrun! I promise it feels great!"

"You're crazy, Cagalli." He shook his head.

"It's you who's boring!" Cagalli shouted back and turned around again swimming

Athrun was filled with contradicting feelings, usually this wasn't something he would do but seeing Cagalli naked outside in the middle of the night was tickling. And while he was still warm he felt another kind of heat spreading in his body, if he took off his clothes right now and got into the water with Cagalli he had a feeling it would be something wonderful.

Maybe he had lost his sense too but he started to take off his clothes too and hurriedly got into the water, he didn't want to be on display: the water offered protection from Cagalli's eyes. It was strange, Cagalli had seen him naked loads of times by now, but in this situation it felt strangely awkward.

He couldn't believe that he was actually doing this, anyway it was all Cagalli's fault and he felt like pay her back a little and with fast strokes he got closer and closer to her.

"I was right wasn't I? Admit it: it feels great." Cagalli smiled at him a little teasingly.

Certainly it felt good, the water was cool and it felt like it was caressing his warm body. It felt a little funny in the beginning not wearing anything but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. The water was jet black, it was impossible to estimate how deep it was, and somehow it gave him both a scary and tickling feeling of not having full control.

He swam up to Cagalli and hugged her, the feeling of her naked skin against his made him swallow his breath, she felt warm compared to the cool dark water that was embracing them.

"Hey, let go!" Cagalli tried to get out of his arms.

"What if I say no?" he teased her.

"If you're holding me I can't swim properly, do you want me to drown, is that it?" Cagalli asked irritated.

"Don't worry, if you drown I will save you…" He whispered in her ear and nibbled a little at it.

"Stupid!" Cagalli gave him a serious push started to swim away from him. Athrun who didn't mind her attitude the least followed her because he knew that she wasn't really angry.

They swam out together, under the moon, under the dusky sky where a few stars had become visible. To feel the water, the smell of the sea, the faint taste of salt, the sound of the waves, the sound of their movements in the water, the sound of their laughs. Everything felt incredible where they were right now.

They swam back to the shore and finally came so close they could touch the bottom.

"Athrun."

"What?" Athrun turned around just to have his face splashed with water by Cagalli.

While Athrun wiped the water from his eyes Cagalli laughingly tried to flee.

"Why you little… Don't think you'll get away with this." he said and went after her.

Cagalli who noticed that he followed her gave up a scream and she tried to get away still laughing. She didn't succeed though, he caught up with her and grabbed hold of her waist. Cagalli tried to resist but he held her in a tight grip and made her face him. He looked Cagalli in the eyes and Cagalli who had calmed down returned this gaze. For moment it looked like he was going to kiss her and Cagalli clearly expected that but when his lips almost had reached hers he suddenly pushed her so that she fell backwards right in the water. The surprised look on Cagalli's face as she fell back looked so funny he burst out laughing. And the angry face Cagalli made as her head popped up above the surface again made him laugh even more.

"Hahaha, you should have seen yourself Cagalli!" Athrun laughed.

"Bastard, I'll get you for this."

"Hehehe, you're the one who started it, that was payback."

Cagalli looked frustrated and angry but all of a suddenly she broke out into a teasing smile, "Well I forgive you. How can I do otherwise when I get to see you like this?"

Athrun suddenly remembered he was stark naked and he was showing it all to Cagalli, and he felt how he began blush madly. He thought that he still had a long way to go being embarrassed like this and to hide his embarrassment he smirked said, "Ok, but it's only right that if I show you mine you show me yours right?"

"You have to catch me first!" Cagalli shouted and tried to swim away but she was too late, Athrun caught her and picked her up princess style.

Athrun smirked, "You didn't think I was going to let you get away did you?"

But he was shocked by her unexpected answer, "No." she said smiling warmly at him. She put her arms round his neck and he felt how he blushed again. _"Ok… Miss Athha your chest is pressing against me."_ Again he was surprised by her actions, who knew that she would act like this, doing one cute thing after another.

He let her down were they had left their clothes, and they put on their underwear.

"Let's sit here a while until we're dry." Cagalli said and placed a kiss on his mouth.

"Yeah." Athrun agreed and returned the kiss and they sat down beside each other, looking the moon mirroring in the water.

"Athrun."

"Nn?"

"What would you do if I drowned?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Why does it matter? Just answer please."

"Well, let's see… I'd be very sad of course."

"Would you cry?"

"I don't know, probably."

"Probably?" Cagalli looked at him doubtfully.

Athrun chuckled and returned Cagalli's question "What would _you_ do if _I_ drowned."

"Nothing… I wouldn't care at all…" Cagalli answered clearly pouting and turned her face away.

"…Even though you'd never see me again? Never be together like this, never touch like this, never hear me nag again?" Athrun tried his best to keep a serious face, but it was hard, his mouth started twitching and soon burst out into a full blooming smile. It was a good thing she wasn't looking this way.

"…" Cagalli became motionless and silent.

"Cagalli?"

"Uuaaaa, Athrun I'm sorry!" tears had started falling down her cheeks.

He almost regretted teasing her but how could he have known she would react this strongly? At the same time he felt warmth welling up in his chest, he felt proof of how much she loved him. He hugged her and said, "But I'm not going to drown, I'm not going anywhere."

"You better keep that promise."

"I will. And you better not go anywhere either, honestly I don't know what I would do."

"I won't."

They kissed again and Athrun said, "Cagalli, let's go home."

"Yeah."

I

It was the first summer together, even now he could remember it vividly even though it was many years ago. When he thought about that time, he felt sentimental. And the urge to hug her was almost impossible to resist.

"Cagalli, what do you say, let's go to the sea?"

"Hmm, tomorrow? Sure."

"No, I mean now."

"But it's in the middle of the night?"

"_Because_ it's the middle of the night, remember?"

"Wait, you're not planning to…"

"What don't tell me you've become chicken? If I remember correctly you were the one who came up with the idea in the first place."

"But that was long ago……. What! Who are you calling a chicken!"

It was ten years ago and they were still together and Cagalli still was the same. Who would have known they would come so far together, but he couldn't imagine life without Cagalli. Not those ten years that had passed and not the future either.

Yes, nightswimming would be a good idea tonight too, right Cagalli?


End file.
